Health Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in Soil from A Landfill Area in Botosani, Romania

The investigations carried out in this study aimed to assess the noncarcinogenic and carcinogenic risks to human health for soil contamination with heavy metals cadmium, nickel and lead in the study area based on the hazard index (HI), hazard quotient (HQ) and total carcinogenic risk (TCR) indices for all three exposure routes, namely ingestion, inhalation and dermal contact for both adults and children. The results showed that human exposure in the analysed area presents an acceptable carcinogenic risk, the TCR index value falling in the range of 10-6 to 10-4. The Hazard Index (HI) for noncarcinogenic risk was below 1 for all metals and exposure pathways, confirming an acceptable level of risk for both adults and children.